POST GAME Round 17 - Broncos vs Panthers

[Kooly87]

Good on Riki for his first try but on the flip side not so much from a team perspective as you'd want your tries closer to the posts to give that certainty of 6pts by passing to the unmarked teammate on the inside. Another 10m and Edwards would have caught him short.
Post try 'me-me' celebration had me thinking, gee this guy's not so different to Fifita afterall.

Sorry, I gotta say I strongly disagree. When you're 5 minutes into your First Grade career and you've made your first clean break and the try line looms large in front of you in a game you desperately need to score in I can absolutely forgive him for just wanting to get the ball over that line as urgently as possible and not considering where he scored or even risking the pass. I don't see that as selfish, I see it as a combination of excitement and nerves and not wanting to blow the chance. If he second guesses and slows down to pass or gets caught we'd all be cursing him He's a rookie backrower, not a spine player, and I have no problem with him just tucking the ball under the arm and running like hell for that try line.

The celebration likewise is a total non-issue. I think it's just looking to nit pick to be honest. He's a teenager and he's just scored his first try in the NRL, let him enjoy the moment any way he sees fit in the heat of the moment.

 

[Footy Fanatic]

Amazing what we can do with a bit of time and space and passing : Carrigan to Dearden to Riki who set himself perfectly for the short pass, and yes, I too wondered why he didn't pass inside to I think Paix in support, but then, he scored, and he deserved that try and it would have done good things to his confidence. Loved the celebration!

It was actually Bullemor in support. I don't think it was selfishness that led to him not passing, just wanted to score his first try and didn't want to stuff up the pass.

I also loved the try celebration, loved seeing the passion.

 

[broncos4life]

Good on Riki for his first try but on the flip side not so much from a team perspective as you'd want your tries closer to the posts to give that certainty of 6pts by passing to the unmarked teammate on the inside. Another 10m and Edwards would have caught him short.
Post try 'me-me' celebration had me thinking, gee this guy's not so different to Fifita afterall.

The ****? He backed himself and it was the right call. A lot of assumptions there and if he passes the ball and it's a bad pass or the guy knocks it on you and others are saying "Why pass it? He had Edwards beaten, it's a big concern if the guy can't back himself". Nearly identical to the criticism Tesi got when he passed and mucked up the try against Manly.

As for the 'me-me' it was his first fucking try in the NRL, one that put HIS team back into the game.

 

[K-Style]

I don’t think it’s very fair to criticise his celebration. The way he reacted to the crushed penalty before this showed how much this opportunity means to him. Gentle has talked about how tough of a road he’s had this season. I think he has every right to be happy for scoring his first try in NRL. Also Bullemor was a fair ways inside him, for a young second-rower running at speed it would’ve been a pretty hard pass to throw.

Also, Just watched the replay again. Bullemor was pretty much in front of Riki anyway so the pass wasn't on. (Bullemor was already ahead of Dearden and Riki).

 

[rnabokov]

It was actually Bullemor in support. I don't think it was selfishness that led to him not passing, just wanted to score his first try and didn't want to stuff up the pass.

I also loved the try celebration, loved seeing the passion.

My mistake. Kudos to Bullemor for running support, the overall lack of which is a problem for us

 

[broncsgoat]

You can tell Dearden is an organising half, it's just hard to do it effectively when getting dominated so badly in the field position battle and he will learn from this.

Yeah what would Joey know

 

[rnabokov]

Again on our problems with field position and go forward, A 7 to 3 penalty count against us also didn't help

 

[GCBRONCO]

Milford? Oh you said worth it.

 

[Skathen]

We are, sadly IMO, definite spoon contenders precisely because last night, we did match them on all metrics except the key ones: go forward, and we just don't do enough with the ball. We don't give ourselves sufficient opportunities to score and put ourselves under constant pressure from not enough momentum, not enough ball movement, not enough field position and of course what contributes to that, a poor kicking game, largely because our kicks are to get out of our half and not to attack in their red zone.................

Oh, I fully contend we got soundly beaten in a number of areas last night - but I think we will push the final three games significantly better based on a few take aways:

1) That was the #1 team in the comp in the middle of a 12? game winning streak.

2) We actually aimed up significantly in defense. Our greatest struggle was holding teams out and we did it well. They had 42 play the balls inside our 20 and we restricted them very well. 3 weeks ago, that would have been 50+ nil.

3) They actually played like they had some heart. They didn't get downtrodden by a try or two.

All this, from 2 weeks. Another week and I see them continuing to improve which is all we have been asking for.

I think we have a fairly good chance of rolling the other two QLD teams. Eels - we'll, I think we might give them a scare this time.

 

[rnabokov]

Oh, I fully contend we got soundly beaten in a number of areas last night - but I think we will push the final three games significantly better based on a few take aways:

1) That was the #1 team in the comp in the middle of a 12? game winning streak.

2) We actually aimed up significantly in defense. Our greatest struggle was holding teams out and we did it well. They had 42 play the balls inside our 20 and we restricted them very well. 3 weeks ago, that would have been 50+ nil.

3) They actually played like they had some heart. They didn't get downtrodden by a try or two.

All this, from 2 weeks. Another week and I see them continuing to improve which is all we have been asking for.

I think we have a fairly good chance of rolling the other two QLD teams. Eels - we'll, I think we might give them a scare this time.

Absolute improvements in all those areas, especially against the likely minor premiers.

However, that one enormous area of improvement for us that we consistently fail, of not putting ourselves into position to score points is a killer. Our go forward is almost non-existent. We cannot win without it. Losing by a little is a big improvement compared to past performances but it's still a loss. I cannot, sadly, see us winning any games unless our go forward improves dramatically, and i am dubious it will. There was absolutely no improvement in that last night. The spoon beckons and I am really worried about that.

 

[PNG Broncos fan88]

Our halves were put under huge pressure by our lack of go forward. Dearden is 19. Although 7 missed tackles is not a good look, in the context of us being under so much pressure, largely self imposed, you can't expect a 19 year old half back to do much more.

Unlike others who deny that the players around our halves make a difference, I reckon they do. His pass to Riki was a gem (as was Riki's run to get him into position to take it). Dearden for mine is our number one half by a country mile.

I agree we must persist with Dearden. But let's not gloss over the fact that in tight matches those little lapses by any player (irrespective of age) can cost a W.

On the age perspective as well - very contrasting when they (commentry team) mention 19yr old Crichton doing freakish things in attack, topping tries but when they mention 19yr old Dearden, it's right after his been rag dolled in defence.

 

[Slippin Jimmy]

Fittler and Johns discussed Dearden the other day and Johns said he felt Dearden wasn’t an organising half. Fittler said he loved that Tommy is always at you, you have to constantly be on your guard. Totally agree with Fittler.

I'm not sure if I buy into what these guys are talking about when they refer to organising halves. It seems that if a half has a decent running game, they're not an organiser and if they're old and slow (i.e. Blake Green) they're apparently master organisers.

Obviously I'm a pleb and these guys know a thing or two about being halves, so there's every chance they're actually seeing stuff off the ball that I'm not.

 

[rnabokov]

I agree we must persist with Dearden. But let's not gloss over the fact that in tight matches those little lapses by any player (irrespective of age) can cost a W.

On the age perspective as well - very contrasting when they (commentry team) mention 19yr old Crichton doing freakish things in attack, topping tries but when they mention 19yr old Dearden, it's right after his been rag dolled in defence.

Crichton is not a half back charged with guiding a team who just can't make metres in attack or defence. He was under enormous pressure. Big difference.

 

[heartly87]

I haven’t had a nap like that in years.

Same, fell asleep and woke up to a highlight of young Riki I think scoring, thought for a second I had missed us get a huge upset. Then reality sunk in soon after.

 

[heartly87]

I am not certain but the only way I can explain it is the Bunker somehow got confused and thought Penrith challenged for some reason.

Like a few weeks ago, when Turpin had the ball knocked out of his hands at hooker and it was called a knock on live so we got the scrum feed, but the opposing team challenged it. They won the challenge of course because the bunker could not rule a penalty for ruck infringements haha then Fox claimed we had challenged the play and failed, even wrote a story saying we challenged it and lost. Why because actually pointing out how pathetic the league is at times would be to exposing, that was essentially cheating, everyone even the bunker knew that it was a penalty but the rules stated it can't be ruled on by them. A joke haha

 

[Jedhead]

Mate, we agree on so much.

Ja, wir denken das Gleiche.

 

[PerthBrissy987]

Goat

 

[heartly87]

Might be accused of being salty about Fifita but he should be out of the team next week for Riki. There's no way we should carry a lazy forward who's signed elsewhere. 23 tackles and 12 low impact runs. **** off to the Titans.

He just wants to play comfortable footy mate.